Your View: Obama earned endorsement ... despite detractors

Friday

Nov 23, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 2, 2012 at 7:14 PM

According to his letter to the editor on Tuesday, Nov. 13 ("Your View: Obama failed to earn our endorsement"), Robert Comeau felt that President Obama should not have earned the endorsement of The Standard-Times, and that the hope Obama generated in 2008 has "evaporated into hopeless." Not in my home, not with my friends and not with the majority of American voters. I wonder if he thinks the newspaper editors and the American voters are not as intelligent as he or that we were somehow hoodwinked while he was not?

JEAN BRIGGS

According to his letter to the editor on Tuesday, Nov. 13 ("Your View: Obama failed to earn our endorsement"), Robert Comeau felt that President Obama should not have earned the endorsement of The Standard-Times, and that the hope Obama generated in 2008 has "evaporated into hopeless." Not in my home, not with my friends and not with the majority of American voters. I wonder if he thinks the newspaper editors and the American voters are not as intelligent as he or that we were somehow hoodwinked while he was not?

As for his opinion that President Obama lacked courage and skilled leadership in his first four-year term, I strongly disagree. I could name many of our president's decisions I feel were courageous and showed skilled leadership, but in Mr. Comeau's words, "to do so in this piece would take up far too much space," and they have been well-documented elsewhere. Every time I see our strong, brilliant, dignified and compassionate president, I am so proud that he is our representative in the world. Sure he's made mistakes and has met with unprecedented obstructionism. To paraphrase the Star Trek's Dr. McCoy, "He is the president, not a magician."

I wonder if the vast majority of people in this country stop and realize that we enjoy a freedom and a standard of living not enjoyed by kings and queens 150 years ago, never mind when compared to much of the world today. I hope they do. I personally know many middle class people with modest paying jobs who have lovely modest homes, nice modest cars, enjoy hobbies such as raising horses, flying planes, traveling around the world, etc., and give generously to those in need. Of course, as the president is the first to say, there is still a lot more to do in America, but there are always people who will complain no matter who is in charge.

On this president's watch we are out of one war and are on the way to being out of another, which will free up billions of dollars to help balance our budget. We are easing our way back to prosperity.

Fast is not always good. I remember when the economy was growing very rapidly a number of years back. Of course there were banks encouraging and catering to people living beyond their means back then, but no one forced anyone to buy McMansions or Hummers, to max out their credit cards, or not to save a portion of their earnings for the future. Life became about acquiring more stuff for many of us. Now smaller but plenty big enough homes are being built and people are saving and buying fuel-efficient cars again. Things don't need to happen overnight.

Deferred gratification, sharing with those less fortunate, and saving are good skills for individuals and a country to practice. If the emerging countries copy America's past greedy way of life, one of God's most precious gifts, our environment, is doomed.

I am extremely grateful for the extraordinary leader our country has chosen for a second term.